Romance and suspense in Paris, as a woman is pursued by several men who want a fortune her murdered husband had stolen. Who can she trust?

You can find out more about this movie on its IMDB page.


This movie is part of the collection: Feature Films

Producer: Stanley Donen
Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: pdmovies

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Reviewer: GapOkie - - July 4, 2012
Subject: Best Movie Hitchcock Never Made
Director Stanley Donen has shown in "Charade" that Hitchcock wasn't the only director who could make a great movie where the main character is drawn into danger by no fault of her own. Who can ever forget George Kennedy's hook sparking while he slides down the metal roof to what seemed certain death. Or the mysterious killer leaving bodys all over the place. Don't forget the implied sex play between Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.

Must give it 5 stars; great cast, great story and wonderful movie experience.

B-T-W, Hitchcock is still my favorite director.

Reviewer: katperrr - - July 4, 2012
Subject: PD or Not
Loved it!

Reviewer: OTRTim - - July 13, 2011
Subject: Not PD Contains Copyrighted Music
Charade is not PD for the same reason It's A Wonderful Life got taken from the Public Domain:It Contains copyrighted music.

Reviewer: Pleonic - - March 12, 2011
Subject: Regarding Copyright
Wikipedia's article on "Charade" states the following: "Before 1978, U.S. copyright law required works to include the word "Copyright", the abbreviation 'Copr.' or the "©" symbol. Because Universal Pictures included no proper copyright notice with Charade, the film entered public domain in the USA immediately upon its release. Copies of this movie, made from film prints of varying quality, have been available on VHS and DVD based on its status in the public domain. However, while the film itself is public domain, the original music remains under copyright."

Reviewer: winner55 - - March 3, 2011
Subject: Entertaining
This is one of those films I think has serious defects - the comedy and the mystery do not blend well for me here - but I enjoy watching again and again for the performances; I also like the 'tourist's view of Paris' that forms the background, and I like the music.
To comment on the copyright issue: I don't really know the status of the film itself, but thought I would correct a misunderstanding. "Charade" is NOT based on the novel "The Unsupecting Wife" by Peter Stone. Both that novel and Stone's screenplay for the film are based on a prior story by Stone and Marc Behm. It was the screen rights to that original story that Donen bought (outright), after the publication of the Stone novel (then hired Stone to write the screenplay). The status of the original story, or whether any copy of it still exists, is unclear.
For the 2002 remake "The Truth About Charlie," apparently the rights to the screenplay were acquired but not the rights to either the original film or the source story. That indicates a story/script/film severability in the original contract for Donen (although I'd have to do more research to ascertain this).
This, BTW, is not at all unusual, since traditionally Hollywood has always viewed written sources as raw material rather than components of the final product.

Reviewer: Bigmalc - - January 22, 2011
Subject: christmas present!
Thanks for posting this. I´ve seen it before and this is a good 'un to be sure!
Btw, an outstanding copyright on the story this is based would not necesseraly prevent this film from entering PD. If the author sold the film rights for a fixed payment (such a deal was frequently done), he probably signed away his rights to control any future distribution of this film, copyrighted or not.

Reviewer: wilbrifar - - January 21, 2011
Subject: Public domain or no...
"Charade" has been playing on TV slots that show nothing but PD films since I was a kid. It's also available on countless editions of VHS tapes, and later DVDs, as a PD title. So if it isn't PD, there are HUNDREDS of people who've been breaking the law all these years.

The best version of this film, if anyone wants it, appears as an extra on the reverse side of Universal's release "The Truth About Charlie", a lackluster remake. As far as I know, that's the only anamorphic, fully restored DVD of "Charade" available, and its quality is gorgeous.

Reviewer: sciwriter - - January 15, 2011
Subject: C
Who owns these copyrights? Can Internet archive work around the copyright issue by positioning the films shown here as educational for novice filmmakers?

Reviewer: billbarstad - - January 14, 2011
Subject: Soon To Be Replaced With A Cease & Desist Order!
Charade isn't PD due to the underlying copyright of the story on which it is based, The Unsuspecting Wife by Peter Stone. The Internet Archive isn't pulling copyrighted films currently, so maybe we'll see To Kill a Mockingbird and It's a Wonderful Life, two other movies in the same boat as Charade, posted soon!

Reviewer: SandraJDykes - - January 6, 2011
Subject: Yes, Thanks!
I love this movie - and the theme song, too!

Is this hilarious gem really in the public domain???

Reviewer: douglip - - January 6, 2011
Subject: Wonderful!!
Wonderful post!! Thanks!!!